Arch-rival Microsoft spent around the same as it did last year, with the equivalent of 7.2 full time lobbyists and a spending of €4-€5m)

Given that the EU figure excludes lobbying on “conciliation or mediation procedures aimed at preventing a dispute from being brought before a judicial or administrative body” (10(a), PDF) Google’s real spending on influencing public policy here will be much higher. Google spent much of the year trying to clinch a last-minute deal with outbound Competition Commissioner Almunia to fend off a Statement of Objections. Money spent on that process doesn’t count in the total declared, nor does staff time.

And the figure for directly employed staff engaged in lobbying by Google merely hints at its influence.

The Citizen.org project tracking Google’s political spending can be found here. In areas where Google doesn’t spend the cash directly, it can rely on others to help. Foundations including George Soros’ Open Society Institute and the Ford Foundation align closely to Silicon Valley’s view on IP policy. The OSI funds a number of groups who style themselves as "civil society" or "human rights" (sic) outfits, including EDRI.

Google declared memberships of a number of groups including VON Europe, EuroISPA, the European Digital Media Association, the European Policy Centre, the European Center (sic) for International Political Economy and Open Forum Europe, among others. It’s also thrown cash at two think tanks – the Bruegel Centre and the Lisbon Council – who have taken a strongly pro-Google position on key IP issues. Google’s favourite anti-trust spokesperson, Mario Marinello, is at Bruegel.

Does all this cash have an effect? Readers can judge for themselves. When Google funnelled money to Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society, it “specifically designated [the funding] not be used for CIS’s privacy work”. The decision was described as “a budgeting matter” by the centre’s head, former EFF attorney Jennifer Granick. As for the EFF itself, in one year, Google cy pres cash amounted to half of the group’s income alone. Last year, the EFF gave scores out to technology companies for privacy in a report marked “Who Has Your Back”, and Google scored 6 out of 6.